
Class Xii^ 



Book 



■\ A/^5 794 



A SERMON 



OCCASIONED BY THE 



DEATH OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

I • 



DELIVERED IN THE 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, 



ON THE MORNING OF OCT. 81, AND REPEATED BY REQUEST IN THE 

SAME PLACE NOV. 14, 1S52. 



BY REV. JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. D. 



NEWARK : 

PUBLISHED BY A. L. DENNIS & BROTHER. 

1852. 






DAILY ADVERTISER PRINT. 
Cor. of Broad and Bank Sts. 



Newark, Nov. 15, 1852. 
Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D. : 

Dear *?;>— We had the pleasure of being among those who listened, last evening, 
to your admirable sermon on the death of Mr. Webster, and believing that its circula- 
tion through the press would greatly conduce to the benefit of our community and to 
a proper appreciation of the value to our country of her illustrious men, we would, on 
behalf of the young men of our city, respectfully request of you a copy for publication. 
We remain, very respectfully and truly : 



CORTLANDT PaRKEE, 

J. Van Arsdale, 
Amzi Dodd, 
Thos. T. Kinney, 
R. Tan Buskirk, 
Aaron P. Whitehead, 
Burr B. Porter, 
S. P. Smith, 
.John Whitehead, 



Joseph P. Bradley, 
S. G. Crowell, 
Martin R. Dennis, 
Joseph N. Tuttle, 
Geo. a. Emmell, 
■ I. M. Andruss, 
Dan'l Dodd. Jr., 
Henry J. Mills, 
Oliver B. Baldwin, 



Geo. M. Robeson, 
A. Parkhurst. 
F. H. Teese, 
George B. Halsted, 
James Ross, 
A. S. Hcbbell, 
Ira C. Whitehead, 
Adrian V. S. Schenck, 
James Miller. 



Newark, Nov. 16, 1852. 
Messrs. Cortlandt Parker, Joseph P. Bradley, George M. Robeson, and others, 
on behalf of the Young Men of Newark : 

Gentlemen — Your approval of the sentiments contained in my discourse on the 
death of the late distinguished Secretary of State, is highly gratifying to me. With 
all its deficiencies I cannot hesitate, in compliance with the request with which you 
have honored me, to place the copy at your disposal. That the young men of our 
city may continue to prove themselves among the strong supports of our beloved 
country is the sincere prayer of 

Yours, with high respect and esteem, 

J. F. STEARNS. 



SERMON. 



II. Samuel, in : 38-39. — And the King said unto his servants, Know ye not that there 
is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? And I am this day weak, 
though anointed King. 

It is unnecessary tliat I should ex|3lain to you, breth- 
ren and friends, the reasons which have led me to select 
these words as the theme of my discourse this morning. 
When the heart of an entire nation is beating heavily, 
oppressed with the sense of a bereavement such as sel- 
dom befalls more than once during any century, it 
would seem unfitting that the pulpit should pass on 
with its accustomed course, without calling upon the 
Christian assemblies met together to receive its admo- 
nitions, to " hear the rod, and who hath appointed it." 

This is by no means the time or the place to pro- 
nounce a eulogy ; and I stand not here to review the 
eventful life, the noble achievements, and the sentiments 
of profound wisdom pertinently and most effectively 
expressed, which are now, and will remain to distant 
generations associated with the name of Daniel Web- 



STER. That will be done by other tongues and pens. 
Yea, the hearts of a whole people are doing it, at this 
moment, in silent admiration and grief. 

My object is, to seize on this occasion, when the feel- 
ings of neither you nor me will allow us to turn away 
from the event referred to, in order to impress some 
truths naturally suggested by it, which may be of use 
to us, both as citizens and as creatures of God, passing 
away to an immortal existence. My subject will be, 
GEEAT MEN, in their relations both to God and to man- 
kind. 

The occasion on which the words of our text were 
uttered, is prolmbly familiar to most of you. Abner 
was the prime minister in the court of Saul, and the 
commander-in-chief of his armies. Though he never 
wielded, in his own name, the sceptre of administra- 
tion, his counsel had had great influence in gi\'ing 
shape to the destinies of his country ; and so great and 
well acknowledged was his eminence, that even the 
leader of the party opposite to his own, although tri- 
mnpliant, through the success granted him by Provi- 
dence, was constrained to say, in view of the fall of 
such a man, '' I am this day weak, though anointed 
kinff." To the case before us the same words seem ob- 
viously pertinent. Not only he who now occuj^ies the 
Presidential chair, but he likewise who shall next as- 
cend to that responsible position, must find occasion 
enough to adopt similar language with reference to the 
death of our late illustrious fellow-citizen. 

I. But to come dii'ectly to the suliject before us, I ob- 
serve, in the first place, that the class of men now re- 



ferred to, are to be regarded as among God's special 
gifts. And here let me explain, l^efore I proceed fm*- 
ther, wliat is to be understood by tlie term geeat, as I 
here use it. 

By a GREAT itiAN, I do not mean simply a good man, 
in tlie highest sense of that ex|:»ression ; though good- 
ness is unquestionably among the marks of the truest 
greatness, and, where it is combined with eminent 
powers, gives to greatness its noblest direction. Still 
less do I intend by those terms, to denote men of mere 
brilliancy or splendid achievements, without regard to 
the aim at which those achievements were directed. 
Caesar and Napoleon lacked some important elements 
of greatness ; while Washington, though far less bril- 
liant than either of them, possessed that combination 
of strong and benignant qualities which enable a man 
to accomplish, not only the most remarkable, but the 
best ends. There are doubtless different forms and de- 
velopments of greatness — greatness of heart, greatness 
of genius, greatness of comprehension and action. But, 
by a great man, as I now use the expression, I intend 
one who coml^ines all those great qualities which go to 
constitute eminent wisdom ; who, with great thoughts 
and fertile invention, possesses at once the judgment 
to discern, the firmness and singleness of heart to pur- 
sue, and the skill and energy to secure the best inter- 
ests of his country and his fellow-men. Such men are 
few, and when they appear, every true Christian 
ought to regard them as among God's special favors 
to mankind. 

I cannot for a moment admit the notion, that there 



8 

are not original and ]>roadly distinguishing differences 
in the powers with which men are endowed. The sap- 
ling may indeed become an oak by proper culture, and 
the oak might have remained a shrub, had not proper 
circumstances favored its development. But then the 
qualities of the oak must have been lodged originally 
in the sapling, or else no cii'cumstances and no skill in 
training could ever make it l)econie the monarch of the 
forest. Much has been said, in recent times, of " self- 
made men ;" and so far as the object has been to en- 
courage effort on the part of all classes, to attain 
eminence according to the degree designed for them 
by Providence, the motive has been laudable. But in 
strict truth, there neither are, nor ever will be, self- 
made men. The powers of man may be developed 
and improved, but not produced, by human ex]:)edients. 
The maker of a plain gold ring might just as well as- 
cribe its value to his own workmanship. It is the pre- 
cious metal, out of which tlie ornament was wrought, 
which gives it, when completed, superior worth to one 
of iron or brass. Let honorable and persevering effort 
have its praise ; let culture be esteemed according to 
its real value ; but let not God's best, natural work, 
with its rich varieties of form and beauty, be ascribed to 
any of man's limited processes. Depend upon it, the 
truly great man, as was said justly in ancient times, of 
the great poet, is " born and not made," either by him- 
self or others. 

We carry our notions of equality quite too far, when 
we deny this most obvious and most reasonable posi- 
tion. And Ave inflict a real injury on our youtli, when 



we train tliem up in tlie belief that tliey were all created 
originally to stand upon a common level, and tliat 
therefore tlie liigliest ranks of influence and authority 
are of right open to the most adroit or fortunate com- 
petitor. Do not say that the opposite doctrine makes 
all human positions a matter of accident. Not so. 
There is a niche prepared for every man, where he 
may adorn his race, if only he will attain and stand in 
it. And as to native differences, they are by no means 
to be referred to chance or circumstances. They are 
a divine ordination, just as much as the creative 
word, which made "the sun to rule by day and 
the moon and stars to give light by night." This idea, 
is, in fact, inwrought into our very language. Not 
only religious men, but all who use our mother tongue, 
call mental abilities gifts, talents. Whose gifts, do 
you suppose ? Ah, many of us forget that, when we 
use the word. And why speak we of talents, but in 
distinct acknowledgment, that all these things have 
been distributed from the court of Heaven, just as He 
chose, who giveth to one man " Ave talents, to another 
two, and to another one." 

Such is, unquestionably, the doctrine of the sacred 
Scriptures, from the beginning to the end. The same 
power which gave to Solomon a " wise and understand- 
ing heart," taught David's " hands to war and his fin- 
gers to fight." Yea, the skill with which Bezaleel and 
Aholiab were fitted " to work all manner of work of 
the engraver, and of the cunning woi'kman, and of the 
embroiderer," proceeded, as we are explicitly informed, 
from the very same hand which " touched Isaiah's hal- 



10 

lowed lips with fire." If circumstances liave any in- 
fluence on tlie result, if human efforts conspire to de- 
velop original endowments, if the times seem fitted to 
the man, as we often find them, no less than the man 
to the times, it is all of the same far-seeing, compre- 
hensive, di^dne Providence, who knows equally how to 
PEODUCE and to fit the proper instrument for the work 
which He designs to accomplish. 

II. I pass, then, to observe, in the second place, that 
the influence of such men on the destinies of their 
fellow-citizens and of the world, is generally under- 
rated rather than exaggerated. 

It has been truly and ])ertinently said, that " God 
never made an independent man." We are linked to- 
gether, lx)tli as a race and as generations, as smaller 
communities and as States and Empires, by ten thou- 
sand ties as complicated and untraceable as those that 
bind the human lieart to the brain, and the lu'ain to 
the entire vital organizm. Nor is the influence of 
any one man, hoAvever small or obscure, lost upon the 
sum of human destiny, nor una]>])recial)le, at least by 
Him A\'ho immbers the very hairs upon our heads. 
Ai)art from contril)utions made in this obscure way, 
by common men, the influence of the great and vrise 
and energetic leaders of their race Avould lack its 
proper material, and so fail of its end. 

But on the other hand, it is with equal truth to be 
affirmed, that but for the influence of these great lead- 
ers, all the contrilmtions of the general mass, were they 
a thousand fold greater than they are, could not, or- 



11 

dinarily, be combined to the accomplisliment of any 
great and useful result. There are mau}" workmen, 
who can hew timber well in the forests, or dig stones 
from tlie quarry. There are again others who can fit 
stone to stone, and joint timber to timber ; and still 
again, those that have skill in ^vorking curious orna- 
ments, adorning a capitol or fitting and polishing an 
architrave ; but still, where were the stately palace to 
be reared — where the lofty and sublime temple — unless 
the architect, in whose gifted brain the entire plan was 
conceived and still resides, give the word and the law 
which shall make all these scattered and disconnected 
products one great whole ? 

Among the functions of human society, some of the 
most important are, undoubtedly, performed within a 
very narrow sphere. The family circle, which is the 
smallest, may likewise justly be regarded as the most 
benign and useful of social organizations. And here 
the circle is so small, and the combining force of na- 
ture works so powerfully, that almost any man, not 
disordered or imbecile in his mental faculties, may, by 
proper care and consideration, guide its aftairs with 
discretion. But when a thousand or ten thousand fam- 
lies, with all tlieir variety of separate interest and 
characters, are to be comljined into one jifnicipal 
COMMUNITY, and made to co-operate for the common 
benefit without encroachment on their individual good, 
the exigency requires powers far more comprehensive 
and energetic. And passing on to the guidance of a 
State or nation, witli its complicated internal arrange- 
ments and external relations, it needs no argument to 



12 

sliow, that, but for men of more than ordinary capacity 
and attainments, such vast interests cannot be skillfully 
guided. True, it may often happen, that men of second 
and third-rate powers may carry on the government of 
a vast nation with success for a considerable period, 
even as a machine, well constructed and put in motion, 
may be tended and regulated by those Avho could 
never have made or invented it. So the ideas, which 
owe their birth only to some great mind, may be 
adopted and applied by men of very inferior capacity. 
The man who drafts the bill, or introduces the resolu- 
tion, may plume himself upon the excellence of ms 
measure ; while he whom the superficial contemn as 
having originated nothing, but who is really the foun- 
tain of other men's supposed originality, stands nobly 
in the back ground, content if only the good result 
may be accomplished, and caring little to whose agency 
the credit may be given. But trace, to their true and 
primal source, the ideas whose application has given a 
nation honor and prosperity, and always, you will find 
it in some mind, capable of comprehending, in one 
view, a nation's character, condition and relations. 

Hence it is, that in great crises, requiring a new re- 
sort to fundamental principles, the powers of such men 
are always put in requisition ; or if they are not to be 
found, the cause fails. It may seem like arrogance in 
the great Chatham, when at a period of the utmost na- 
tional peril, he said to one of the nobles of. England : 
" My Lord, I am sure that I can save this coimtry, and 
that nobody else can." And yet, I dare say, tliat a 
careful search of the course of events would show, that 



13 

tliere was far more triitli tlian boasting in those re- 
markable words. At such times, small men feel that 
they have stretched their own line to its full length — ■ 
that the borrowed maxims and rules and precedents 
by which they have succeeded hitherto, are no longer 
applicable to the exigencies of the community — the 
machine will no longer do its work without a change 
of construction, or the application of some new princi- 
ple, and they are glad therefore to give it over into 
hands gifted with inventive skill. 

But what is true in the affairs of State, is equally 
true in other departments of human thought and action. 
We do not need many of what may l:)e called great 
thinkers or great scholars in ordinary circumstances. 
We take our opinions and our arguments as we do our 
coin, from the common circulating currency, and while 
the supply is sufficient, and the stamp uucjuestioned, 
we feel no necessity for recurring to the mint where it 
received its impression, or the mine out of whose rich 
depths the ore was extracted. Every day men are 
using, all over the land or even the world — using hap- 
pily and usefully — perhaps scarcely doubting that they 
themselves are the authors of them, or calling them 
their own because they do not know who has a better 
right to claim them as original — thoughts, which once 
came forth fresh and new — from the brain of some great 
master of mental, moral, or theological science. Even 
our common-places, those truths which nobody claims, 
because they are so obvious and familiar, were, in many 
instances the result of painful birth-throes, on the part 
of mighty thinkers, in days of doubt and perplexity. 



14 

In ordinary times, by aid of these, men of common 
abilities will occupy tlie ])ulpit or the teacher's chair, 
or go through the routine of a profession quite as well 
as the original thinker. But let a crisis arise, let new 
forms of disease show themselves in the medical de- 
partment, new heresies in the theological, or cases 
setting at defiance old precedents and familiar analo- 
gies in the law, and then the resort must be to minds 
capable of dealing with first principles, and compre- 
hending in one view a complicated system of thought. 
There is moreover, a diflPiised influence proceeding 
from such men, w^hich like the diftused light with which 
men ordinarily see, is not the less salutary because its 
beams do not flash directly from their original source. 
We get them reflected and refracted from all the objects 
around us, while, as to their origin, too many of us rea- 
son much like the simpleton, who said " he did wonder 
why the sun would not shine by night, and not keep 
shining up there all day, when it was light enough to 
see without him." Few are aware, I apprehend, how 
much they are indebted either directly or indirectly, 
to the illustrious poets, artists, orators, jihilosophers 
and divines, whose works lie upon the shelves of our 
libraries or adorn the walls of om- apartments. The 
circulation of their gi'eat thoughts, which pass from 
mouth to mouth, recited by the schoolboy, new dressed 
and re-produced by the pretender to literary distmc- 
tion, and treasured up and silently mused upon in the 
minds of the thoughtful, are all the while moulding 
men's actions and charactei-s. Even the common spir- 
it of the age lacks an appropriate voice, till some such 



15 

man gives it utterance ; and thouglits wliich float vague- 
ly in the common mind, products of general advance- 
ment, obtain a new power and permanence among tlie 
elements of hmnan progress, when such an utterance 
has given them authority. The living presence of 
one such man may he sufficient to enlighten and stim- 
ulate an entire community, while the choice spirits will 
be drawai forth and put in motion by it, hke steel filings 
by the attraction of the magnet. If good, as well as 
great, the very sight of hmi and his ways, the daily 
household words he utters, will make men grow, by 
imperceptible and unconscious processes, wiser and 
better ; and happy is he who may have had his mind 
and heart trained in such a 2:)resence ! 

I will not say as one has said, that " universal his- 
tory — the history of what has man accomplished in 
this world, is at bottom the history of the great men 
who have worked here." That may be an exaggera- 
tion. But I must say, that the amount contributed to 
the world's history by men on whom God has stamped 
\'isibly the marks of native nobility, as men born to 
guide other men's thoughts and actions, is of far greater 
importance than the vulgar herd are willing to ac- 
knowledge. The names of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, 
Da\4d, Elijah, Isaiah, and Daniel, under the ancient 
JeAvish dispensation ; and of John the Baptist, John 
the Evangehst, Peter and Paul under the new, hardly 
stand, if we except their insi:)iration, in more important 
relations to the men of their own and succeeding times, 
than those of Athanasius and Augustine, Huss and 
Wiclifl:e, Luther and Calvin, Bacon and Milton, Con- 



16 

stautine, Alfred and Wasliiiigton, since tlie Christian 
era. It is by the gift of such men, that a propitious 
Providence oftenest manifests his disposition to befriend 
a community. As it was in the days of old, when prayer 
was offered in a time of general distress, and " the Lord 
gave Israel a Saviour," so have we often found it in the 
history of the Church and of nations. 

So it was in the days of our own American Revolu- 
tion, a period, probably, in whicli more fervent and 
importunate prayer was offered for national Ijlessings, 
both from closets and from pulpits all over the land, 
than at any other, since the first planting of our colo- 
nies. Then the Lord showed his merciful kindness by 
giving to this country a Washington, a main^, an im)i- 
viDUAL, yet one A^^ho proved not only a sa^dour to his 
country by his success in arms, l)ut a li^*ing embodi- 
ment of the very spirit by which her institutions should 
be animated. 

So A\'as it in the period of the Protestant Reforma- 
tion. The influence of that one mighty champion, 
Martin Luther, is of itself sufficient to prove the 
truth of my position. When, on the evening of the 
thirty-first of October, 1517, just three Imndred and 
thirty-five years ago to-day, he quietly walked out, 
paper in hand, amidst crowds of excited devotees 
who had flocked together on the festival of "All- 
Saints," in expectation of a plenary indulgence ; and 
upon the door of the church in Witteml)m"g, made 
peculiarly sacred in the eyes of the superstitious throng 
by the accunnilation of holy relics that filled it, affixed 
those ninety-five theses, impugning the abuses of the 



17 

Cliurcli of Rome, wliicli lie pledged himself to defend 
in public tlie next day against all opposers, there was 
probal)ly not another man in all Germany, who would 
have dared thus to throw down the gauntlet before a 
tyrant hierarchy. And yet, on that bold act, and the 
succeeding manifestations of high and holy resolve on 
the part of that wonderful man, hung, under God, the 
entire series of changes which gave the world both the 
Reformation itself, and the blessed fruits of liberty 
which have followed it. Meet it is, that this day should 
be observed annually, as it is throughout Protestant 
Germany, in commemoration of that most pregnant 
transaction. And meet it is, that the name of Martin 
Luther should be cherished and pronounced with 
praises to God wherever a free-born Christian is to be 
found. 

It ill becomes us to worship great names, or fawn on 
those whom the world has agreed to make its favorites. 
That is a vulgar propensity. But the affectation of 
admiring nothing, and treating real eminence as though 
it were no higher than the common level — an affecta- 
tion too characteristic of our times and country — is in 
my judgment, to say the least, equally offensive. There 
is an affectionate admiration for distimiifuished talents 
worthily applied, which is generous and becoming, and 
likely to be felt in its fullest measure by those who 
have themselves a kindred nature. Only a vulgar 
mind can fail to catch something of its inspiration. It 
is an admiration for one of God's best gifts, the noblest 
earthly product of creative power — an admiration, 
whose most appropriate incentive is gratitude, and 



18 

wliich, properly controlled and chastened, has an affin- 
ity with the best and holiest impulses of the Christian 
heart. 

III. But I proceed to observe, m the third place, 
that the position and destiny of such men, notwith- 
standing all their greatness, is in the hands of a power 
far above their control. 

The insufficiency of mere natural endowments to se- 
cure ultimate success, has become proverbial. The 
Roman Marius, and the modern Napoleon, were both 
great men, as the world usually estimates greatness. 
Yet the image of the one, sitting in desolate grandeur 
on the ruins of Carthage, and the other, wearing out 
his last days on a lonely rock of the ocean, are beacons 
in history, warning all men of the danger of such 
greatness. 

And even where natural endowments are combmed 
with those higher moral qualities, which are essential 
to constitute true wisdom, they cannot be with cer- 
tainty relied upon for the attainment of those ends 
which their possessor proposes to himself. God has 
marked out for every man only a limited sphere, and 
all beyond that he holds in his own wise but inscruta- 
* ble disposal. Forming our plans with reference to 
what seems the truest and l^est interests of that sphere, 
it often hai)pens that our aim conflicts with that more 
comprehensive aim by which the best interests of the 
vast universe are promoted, and then, of course, our 
designs have to be frustrated. Could we even suppose 
in any one man such comprehensive and far I'eaching 



19 

wisdom, as would enable him to see witli certainty 
under all cii'cumstances, the course of prudence for an 
entire community, so as to commit no mistakes which 
might be the foundation of disappointment ; yet perhaps 
a doom has gone forth from the court of heaven against 
that community ; and, as a medium of its execution, 
wise counsels are to fail of their accomplishment, or be 
rejected by an infatuated people. Like Cassandra in 
the classic fable, it is their destiny to speak words of 
truth to minds pre-determined to reject them ; or with 
Isaiah, they seem to have received as their commission, 
"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their 
ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their 
eyes, and hear wdth their ears, and understand with 
their heart, and convert and be healed." And when 
the inquiry is made, "Lord, how long?" the answer is, 
"Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and 
the houses without man, and the land be utterly deso- 
late." Tlius has many a true patriot sunk away into 
sorrowful retirement, or died almost broken-hearted, 
because an ungrateful or deluded peoj)le knew not what 
belonged to their true peace, and would rush on to a yet 
unmanifested destiny. And thus doth the Suj)reme 
Ruler of the nations "destroy the wisdom of the 
wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the 
prudent." 

It genei'ally is found to be the fact, that men of this 
character have some ambitious aims of their own, which 
they desire to accomplish. Though in the main disin- 
terested and patriotic, they have come to regard their 
own elevation to posts of influence and power as in a 



20 

measure identified witli the success of patriotic and 
benevolent ends. Nor is this only and always a cen- 
surable egotism. The pilot who has planned the voy- 
age may well desire to have the helm under his own 
management in critical moments. And, let carping- 
mediocrity say what it will, there are men occupjdng 
confessedly such positions in the eye of their country, 
that to pass them by in the choice of its leaders, is to 
inflict upon them an indignity — a "«'ound which the 
most generous and unselfish natures are often the 
quickest to feel. Nor can it be denied that through 
the infirmity which attaches itself to humanity in its 
best specimens, the hearts of such men are often 
strongly set on the attainment of personal eminence. 
In some, this desire goes so far, as to absorlj and neu- 
tralize some of the most worthy original purposes. 

But the history of the world, no less than the lessons 
of Holy Writ, teaches us, that there is no combina- 
tion of the most brilliant and \'igorous powers, ^\'liicli 
can secure human ambition from the probaljilities of 
a disappointment. How remarkably is this truth ex- 
emplified in the case of the three illustrious statesmen, 
whose names History will link together as the richest 
ornaments of our country in the present generation ! 
The ability of each of them to occui-)y the liighest sta- 
tion in this great Repul)lic, and even to add to it a 
dignity scarcely attained hitherto, not a man probably 
of any party doubted for a moment. In the parties to 
which they respectively belonged, not a man doubted 
that their administration, could they be placed there, 
would be most benign and glorious in its eftects upon 



21 

the country. And yet with sadness, yes, witli admiring 
grief, mnst we record the fact, that Calhoun, Clay,, 
Webster, all three — suns as they were in our political 
firmament, died at an advanced age, disappointed men. 
All their life long they had toiled, 'with honorable am- 
bition surely, if ever it is right to couple those two 
words, to attain the post of highest honor and power, 
over a country which I verily believe they loved more 
than their ambition, or, at least, so identified with it, 
that the attainment of the one Avould not have been 
deemed by them worth the seeking without the pros- 
perity of the other ; and yet, after having again and 
again almost attained their object, each, in succes- 
sion, went to his honored grave, in the grief or bit- 
terness of a darling wish hopelessly frustrated. Oh, 
ambition, learn here, beside these graves, one salutary 
lesson! Generous, noble-minded, patriotic ambition, 
come and see Avhat a mere bubble thou pursuest! 
Men of no mark, men, comparatively at least, as all 
acknowledge, of very small pretensions to the honor, 
have one after another, been almost taken by surprise, 
at findino* themselves in the chair of office ; but Cal- 
HOUN, Clay and Webster, men on whom all eyes have 
been resting for a half a century, have at length fin- 
ished their career, and left their great names inscribed 
nowhere aljove a secondary position. 

Nor can the most splendid abilities, as the course of 
the world is, secure their possessor from being the 
mark for slander. On the contrary, they serve to 
make him so. Envy is gratified by oljscuring what 
seems too brilliant for its com2:)osure ; and selfisliness 



22 



finds its account in traducing what it cannot subor- 
dinate. So is the great man of his time doomed not 
only to have 



" all his faults observed, 

Set in a note-book, learned and conned hj rote," 

but to have all the faults that really belong to him 
grossly exaggerated, the motives of his best actions 
vihfied, and faults ascribed to him, and confidently 
asserted and heralded from shore to shore, of which 
perhaps he is as innocent as the infant sleeping in the 
cradle. And though j^osterity generally sees justice 
done to men of real worth, yet its verdict comes late ; 
and long before it comes, the pangs of the great heart 
that felt the sting, have obtained ease in the grave. 

The grave ! yes, the grave ! And this suggests an- 
other thought pertinent to our present subject. Al- 
though success, in its largest measure, should l)e their 
fortune, the greatest of their race must at lengtli die. 
We hear a voice, which calls to us not only from the 
fresh graves whicli have just closed over the forms of 
our own departed statesmen, but from out the depths 
of long ])a8t generations — from the tombs Avhere lie 
the dust of heroes, patriots, sages, eloquent orators, and 
ministers of the holy gospel. "Cease ye from man 
whose l)reatli is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be 
accounted of?" " Put not your trust in princes, nor in 
the son of man in whom there is no help ; his breath 
goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day 
his thoughts perish." 



23 

"Princes, this clay must be your bed 
In spite of all your towers, 
The tall, the wise, the reverend head 
Must lie as low as ours." 

How like a dream does all earthly greatness vauisli ! 
How little does even tlie most splendid life appear 
when we come to look in npon the eternity whicli is 
before ns ! Verily, there is no trusting in an arm of 
flesh, however strong. The tolling bells, the flags at 
half mast, the interminable procession, the streets and 
edifices all draped with black, the mournful pageant, 
the costly and enduring monument, all speak one voice. 
It is the voice of the inspired oracles. " I have said 
ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most 
High ; l;)ut ye shall die like men and fall like one of 
the princes. Arise, O Lord, judge the earth, for Thou 
shalt inherit all nations." And happy, alone happy 
is the man who has his trust centered firmly on the 
ever-living and true God. 

The event to which reference has been had in this 
discourse, is one, as I have said, of no ordinary interest. 
The news that our great statesman was dead, sunk as 
lead, cold and heavy, upon the hearts of the people. 
I know not how others may regard the matter, but for 
myself, though my personal accpiaintance with the illus- 
trious deceased scarcely extended beyond a casual intro- 
duction, and a passing shake of the hand, I may aflirm, 
without the least aftectation, that I have felt this be- 
reavement with something extremely like a deep pea'- 
sonal sorrow. Ever since I can remember, even from 
early childhood, that bright particular star has been in 



24 

our American sky. As a son of New England, I liave 
seen in liim many of the strong, deep, earnest qualities 
which distinguished the noble ancestry to wliicli I am 
proud to trace my lineage. As a citizen of Massachu- 
setts, I have felt his name to be among the l^rightest 
of the many bright gems that adorn the brow of my 
native State. That name has been scarcely less famil- 
iar, and had scarcely less of a homelike sound, than 
that of father or brother. Well I remember with what 
eagerness we college-lads watched for the papers that 
contained those .great speeches in the discussion with 
Hayne — how, with forms bending forward, and lips 
half apart, the youthful group drank in the soul stirring 
eloquence, and strove to fathom the deep reasoning of 
the giant Statesman, as one of our number read aloud 
for the benefit of the rest — and how we, Massachusetts 
boys fancied ourselves taller by some inches, and our 
dear native State, Avith her Plymouth Rock and her 
Bunker Hill, seemed dearer than ever to our heart of 
hearts. It is impossible for a man to contemplate, with 
any true approbation, such an object from liis youth 
up, and not feel his heart gradually growing to it with 
something like filial affection : and I confess, whatever 
others may think, and however it may require the 
spirit of indulgence on the part of some to bear with 
me in saying it in this place, I have believed, and do 
believe this day, that not an honester and more true- 
heai*ted patriot ever trod the soil of glorious America, 
than he who has just now gathered himself up for his 
last sleep within her fiiithful bosom. 

Mr. Webster Avas no merely sectional or partizan 



25 

politician. A Whig from principle, and hj all tlie in- 
stincts of liis moral and intellectual nature, lie could 
yet spring generously to the defense of measures of the 
opposite party, whenever the country's good seemed 
plainly to demand tlieii* support. Party men have, 
more than once, heen disappointed in him, because his 
aim was to be, in the largest sense of the word, a na- 
tional statesman. He was indeed, as I have intim- 
ated, a New England man — from stem to stern, a ship 
of the New England built, with tiniTjers hewn out of 
the tough oak of her noble hills, seasoned from the 
beginning in her wholesome discipline, and ]3olted 
through and through with her puritan principles ; yet 
bravely did that good ship sail on the broad sea of the 
nations, and the flas^ that ever floated at her mast-head 
was — " Our country, our whole country, and nothing 
but our country." 

With Mr. Webster the preservation and prosperity 
of this glorious Union w^as almost a passion. It has 
been charged against him, that he was willing to sacri- 
fice cherished interests, rather than hazard it. Some 
zealous advocates of emancipation have striven to 
clothe his history A\dth obloquy, because, having, all 
his life, stood firmly for the liberty of the enslaved, he 
at last, under an alarm of approaching disunion, con- 
sented to measures which might seem adapted to thwart 
the desired object. But, with him, it must be borne in 
mind, the union of these States was regarded as funda- 
mental, in the pursuit of all other desirable public 
ends. You know the l)urning words which fell from 
his lips in the year 1839, when, in the Senate of the 



26 

Unitefl States, he stood up and said : "I profess, Sir, 
in my career hitherto, I have kept steadily in view, the 
preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union 
we are chiefly indehted for whatever makes us most 
proud of our country. While the Union lasts, we 
have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread 
out before us. Beyond that, I seek not to pene- 
trate the veil. God grant, that, on my vision, may 
never be opened, what lies behind. When my eyes 
shall turn to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, 
may I not see him shining on the l^roken and dishon- 
ored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States 
dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with 
civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal l;)lood !" 
Even sweet Liberty, the American's fii'st love, he would 
not woo except with favor of that honored matron, 
MOTHER of Liberty. " Not Liberty first and Union af- 
terwards," even for the white man, even for himself 
and his children, would he choose to inscribe upon our 
banner ; " but that other sentiment, dear to every true 
American heart, 'Liberty and Union,' now and for- 
ever, one and inseparable." 

It is not for me to discuss the cj[uestion, whether the 
Union was really in danger, Avlien the measures into 
which our two most eminent and most experienced 
Statesmen threw themselves so eagerly, were adoi)ted. 
Suffice it to say, they, in common Avith tliousands of 
the most judicious observers, North and South, fully 
believed so. And with such ^'iews, who shall charge 
inconsistency upon even the professed friend of eman- 
cipation for consenting to their adoption ? Alas ! for 



2T 

the poor bondman, if North and South should become 
separate nations ! In the wreck which might ensue, 
ruin would fall first and surest on his defenseless head. 
The same blow which cuts the Union of these States, 
will doubtless rivet the chains of the poor negro's 
bondage, and fix upon him, for a long half century at 
least, the hopeless alternative of slavery or death. The 
illustrious Senator would have belied his whole past 
history, had he been willing to promote Liberty at the 
expense of Union. 

The patriotism of Mr. Webster was eminently a 
conservative patriotism ; and hence, in part at least, his 
failure to secure popular fiivor. In a community whose 
every passion is lashed up to the intensest excitement, 
wliei'e all sails are set to catch the freshest gale, and 
the ship is dashing on over the waters with a wizard's 
speed, reckless of rocks and shoals, the man whose 
mission is rather to stead}^, guide, and sometimes hold 
back, than to impel, can seldom count on being a gen- 
eral favorite. And yet the functions of such men are 
of pre-eminent importance, in such circumstances, for 
the general ^\Tlfare. In the great movements of the 
materia] universe, astronomers reckon two opposite 
forces, the centripetal and the centrifugal. One is the 
force of progress, the other of steady, well propor- 
tioned, definitely aimed progress ; and it would be dif- 
ficult to say which might easiest be dispensed with. 
So, in human society. Xo one Avho carefully reviews 
our history for the last fifty years, especially during the 
period in which the illustrious deceased stood upon the 
stage, could hesitate to say which class of forces were 



28 

most rare, and therefore most to be soiiglit after by 
the judicious jihilanthropist. Onward, ever onward, is 
the general spirit of the age. As a people, we cannot 
hold back, and we shall not hold ])ack ; it is not in ns. 
Like the foaming rapids aT)ove the cataract of Niagara, 
we whirl and rage and force onr way forward, thonght- 
less often to what precipice the rusliing ^waters are ap- 
proaching. To regulate, to control, to direct to right 
ends, that is the problem — the problem of usefulness, 
I mean, but not the problem of popularity. Our far- 
seeing Statesman knew too well, that this was not the 
road to favor with the multitude. The loud huzzas, 
echoino- from Maine to California, were not for him, or 
such as he. Even the support of thinking men, on 
whom he did count, was given not seldom, however re- 
luctantly, to different leadei*s. 

Mr. Webster was a man of indefatigable industry. 
An incident related in his addi'ess on History, last 
winter, shows that conclusively ; and there are other 
anecdotes of his life equally significant. Thus it was, 
that his great Cca])acities Ijecame filled, and his great 
powers were brought into readiness for worthy action. 
Tlius became he, what he has been so beautifully de- 
scribed to be by an eloquent eulogist, "chief by a two- 
fold eminence, eminence of the very highest rank in a 
two-fold field of intellectual and public display— the 
profession of the law and the profession of statesman- 
ship, of which it would not be easy to recall a parallel 
in the biography of illustrious men."* In the latter 

* Rufus Choatc. 



29 

department, I presume lie liad no rival on the stage, in 
any country, at the time of his decease. 

Mr. Webster was a man of warm domestic affec- 
tions, as appears pLiinly enough from the touching 
letter, relating to his early life, and the memory of his 
lamented brother, published since his decease. The 
world in general, seldom see much of this part of the 
character and life of public men. It is often a distinct 
sphere, almost a separate world, into which none enter 
but those who belong to it, and very little is suffered 
to transpire for public observation. Happy is it, when 
by the few glimpses which we now and then gain, we 
see revealed so beautiful a picture. 

But I must touch Ijriefly on one further aspect of his 
character. Mr. Webster was a professor of religion 
from his youth, in the communion of a Church holding 
essentially the same great Christian truths with our- 
selves ; and as such, was accustomed, from time to time, 
durinsr his life, to commemorate, in the sacrament of 
the Supper, the great mystery of the Saviour's death. 
W^hat were his inward experiences, and how far his 
outward life adorned his profession, I know not. The 
life of our puljlic men is, unquestionaljly, a theatre of 
the fiercest temptations; and if Christians would be 
more earnest in prayer for them, and less severe in cen- 
sure, less uncharitable in suspicion — remembering that, 
with all their faults, some of them may have overcome 
greater moral foes than we ever encountered, better 
and holier ends would Ije attained. The faults of the 
deceased have been, I have reason to believe, in many 
instances, grossly exaggerated ; while the conflicts he 



30 

may liave had witli evil, the tears he may have shed 
in secret, the victories which, through grace, he may 
have gained, are known only to the Searcher of hearts. 
No man ever heard him speak disrespectfully of any 
feature of our holy religion. On the contrary, he bore 
his free and full testimony to its truth, its sacredness 
and its jStecessity. And if, as we have learned from one 
who knew his Avays, and spoke in the presence of many 
witnesses in the scene of his burial, he was a man of 
prayer — carrying his griefs and burdens to the throne 
of grace, and, as the priest of his own househohl, offi- 
ciating at the family altar, we need not wonder at the 
beautiful and holy serenity, which seems to have filled 
his soul in his departing moments. With all the facul- 
ties of his gi'eat mind in complete exercise, with a full 
knowledge, such as from his early training he must 
have had, of what is needful in a preparation for death, 
clearly apprised that the last messenger was at the 
door, and that, to-morrow at the very latest, all that 
was mortal of Daniel Webster would be no moi'e, 
how calmly did he Ijid farewell to loved ones, and put 
his soul in order for its final flio-ht ! 

" Then, I am to lie patiently to the end. If it be so, 
may it come soon." How deeply impressive is that 
earnest response to the recital by his devout physician, 
of the beautiful words of holy writ — " Though T walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
no evil, for Thou art with me : Tliy rod and Thy staff 
they comfort me," — a response evincing at once his 
sense of dependence and his deep longing for some- 
thing SURE to depend u^^on — ^' the fact, the tact !" — the 



31 

great soul-sustaining fact wliich underlies and is ex- 
pressed by those beautiful words, — " tliat is wliat I 
want" — wliat I need, and all I need — " Thy rod, Thy 
Pod— Thy staff, Tliy staff !" And sweet to the heart 
of every Christian must be the recollection of that 
prayei', closing audibly with " Heavenly Father, for- 
give my sins and receive me to Thyself, through Christ 
Jesus." And who needs doubt, who can consent to 
doubt, that the sins of the great Statesman, whatsoever 
they may have l)een, were forgiven ; not for his great- 
ness' sake, not on account of their fewness or his many 
counter1)alancing virtues, but for the sake of that all- 
merciful, atoning Lamb of God, of whose mediation 
that last prayer made mention, and whose l^lood alone 
" taketh away the sin of the world V 

So died the illustrious, peerless Statesman of this 
western hemisphere ! America has lost none greater. 
Gone, gone, forever, from our sky, is that bright lumin- 
ary ! That eloquent tongue is silent ! The light of 
that eagle eye is quenched ! That noble brow, on which 
commanding intellect sat visibly enthroned, is cold as 
the marble of his tomb ! That giant frame will be 
crumbling soon, among the clods of the valley ! Fare- 
well, illustrious spirit ! Long will it be ere thy place 
among us will be filled ! Mad faction may distract the 
members of this great Republic, and storms of war 
may again lower over the Atlantic, but we shall have 
no Webster then, to say to the one, " Peace, ye are 
brethren," or to avert the other by his prudent and 
skillful negotiations. Henceforth, our country must 
pursue her way without iiim. 



32 

His body sleeps amidst hallowed scenes. The Ocean 
that once bore the Mayflower to these shores, sings its 
requiem near his tomb. The air which received the 
Pilgrims' l)reath of prayer, when they fii^st landed, 
floats around and over it. He lies amidst the green 
graves of those venerable sires, and not far oft' is Ply- 
mouth Rock. Fit resting place ! May a> e meet both 
hmi and them at the resurrection of the just ! 

And now, for a short season longer we sojourn among 
living men. The country which the good old Puritans, 
Huguenots, Hollanders, and Scotch and Irish Cove- 
nanters first planted ; into whose institutions glorious 
WASHiXGTOisr breathed his patriotic spirit ; which 
Franklin, Adams, Henry, Rutledge, and their noble 
compeers rescued from dependence and subser^iiency ; 
which Marshall, Madison, Hamilton, Pinckney and Ja}- 
adorned and built u]) into a mighty nation ; and where, 
from age to age, the blessed Gospel of our Lord was 
preached by Cotton, Willard, Davies, Witherspoon, 
Mason, and, worthiest of all, l)y that great scholar and 
divine, than whom America inscribes no noisier name 
upon her rolls, Jonathan Edwards, is now for a little sea- 
son committed to the faithfulness of us of this passing- 
generation. To the exercise of this faithfulness, the 
death of our great men loudly summons us. Every one 
of those strong anil wise pilots who are taken away, 
leaves so much heavier a responsibility upon the mass of 
citizens. And shall it fail to be discharged ? I call upon 
the young men of our country, for on them devolves a 
special responsibility. Let young America awake, and 
gird herself with holy courage for her work. If an}' 



33 

nation should be cherislied in her people's heart, it is 
our own. If patriotism were ever a Christian \ii'tue, 
it is here. We owe a debt to our ancestors which can 
be discharged only by patriotism. We owe a debt to 
posterity, and can discharge it only by transmitting 
unimpaired the sacred legacy which our and their 
ancestors intended for them. We owe a debt to our 
race ; and in what way can we pay it so surely as by 
keeping open here a fountain of pure influences and a 
free asylum for the oppressed ? 

Let the young men of our comitry stand fast by the 
union of these States ! The spirit that would rend the 
sacred sisterhood is no friendly spirit. The party that 
would separate, to gain control of one of the fragments, 
and not rather relinquish the whole into other hands 
than sever in twain the living organism, is manifestly 
a destructive party. The genius of America weeps at 
the very thought of such a catastrophe. When the 
sword is drawn for the murderous deed, watch and see 
who it is that says, " Let it be neither mine nor thine, 
but di^dde it." Watch and see whose maternal heart 
shudders instinctively at the base suggestion. And 
when you see her forego all else rather than that, give 
the living child, America, with all its young hopes, 
into her hands, " for she is the mother thereof." 

Young Americans, let the ideal which you place con- 
stantly before you, and strive ever to realize in your 
own character, be Christian Patriotism. Assume as 
the guide of your public acts, no narrow and partial 
principles, even though they may appear to bemoral 
principles. Look broadly over the fair face of this 



34 

goodly nation. Contemplate earnestly, and study care- 
fully Loth its external relations and the mutual obliga- 
tions of its parts and members. Study the history, the 
genius, the true mission and the probable destiny of 
your country. Deposit your votes, come what will, at 
the time of voting, in the fear of God. And when you 
pray, commend constantly and with no formal service, 
your dear native land to the God of your fathers. 

But not alone for our country's service does the de- 
parture of our honored fellow-citizens bid us be ready. 
There is a better country — Ijetter far than even our o^vn 
loved America, to which, as destined to an immortal be- 
ing, we owe our loyalt}". The melancholy voice which 
echoes now from shore to shore of the land, bids every 
man, high or low, bear in mind, that he has here upon 
this earthly ground, '' no continuing city." Our chief 
citizenship is in another clime. With rapid course we 
all pass on toward the judgment-seat of Christ. There 
all mankind must stand upon a connnon level. Politi- 
cians and their constituents will meet there, and every 
intrigue Avill be exposed ; yes, and pastors and then- 
people will meet there, and all the conduct and motives 
of their intercourse will be brought under re^^ew. 

And liere the ministers of the Gospel ought to re- 
ceive an admonition, not only from the death, but 
fi'om the recorded words of the departed Statesman. 
As though a voice spoke to :\ie from beyond the grave, 
would I pause thoughtfully over the mighty lesson. 
" When I attend upon the preaching of the Gospel, I 
wish to have it made a personal matter — yes, a per- 
sonal matter — a personal matter." How scorching is 



35 

the rebuke to those who merit it ! " They take a text 
from Paul aud preach from the newspapers. When 
they do so, I prefer to enjoy my own thoughts rather 
than listen." And who blames him? "I want my 
minister," he says, " to come to me in the spirit of the 
Gospel, eaying, ' You are mortal. Your probation is 
brief. Your work must be done quickly. You are 
immortal too. You are hastening to the bar of God. 
The Judge standeth at the door.' " 

Ah, THAT is the only true method for a Christian min- 
ister. When ever I come to speak in this sacred place, 
O, let the impression henceforth be stamped deeper than 
ever on my heart : I must make the transaction in which 
I now engage with these immortal souls, " a personal 
matter — yes, a personal matter — a personal matter." 
And, brethren and friends, let those other words just re- 
cited, sink deep likewise into all your hearts. Receive 
them as if spoken to you, through me, by one " who 
being dead yet speaketh," aye, who " still lives" — lives 
in the aifections of his countrymen — lives in the -v^^orthy 
deeds and worthy sentiments he has left behind — lives 
as an immortal spirit, just over there, on the other side 
of the border between time and eternity. " You are 
mortal. Your probation is brief. Your work must 
be done sj)eedily. You are immortal too. You are 
hastening to the bar of God. The Judge standeth at 
the door." Prepare, O ye mortal, yet immortal beings, 
prepare now for a happy immortality. xVimen. 



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